Readers of the past few issues of Screen Africa will have noticed gloriously colourful
and wacky illustrated ads featuring big juicy lips attached to different sets of legs,
including one pair attired in men’s jocks. The ads promote “The art of storytelling’.
Huh?
Well, lips (or talking mouths) tell stories, right, so hence the reference. And the art
of storytelling is the central theme of this year’s PromaxBDA Africa Conference &
Awards, which takes place on 22 November at The Maslow, Sandton, Johannesburg
(as the big-lipped ads proclaim). For those who don’t know (and there are some),
Promax is all about TV and radio promos and on-air design.
As Tim Horwood, chairperson of PromaxBDA Africa 2013, says: “Whether you’re a
creative, marketer, designer, producer, director, project manager, editor, art
director, planner, or a mix of the above, storytelling is still the most powerful tool to
help connect, engage, retain and grow your audience.
“When you know your audience and content, you’ll know what story to tell; when
you know your brand you’ll know how to tell it. This year’s PromaxBDA Africa
conference will focus on storytelling and how important a part it plays in creating our
consumer touch points.’
But back to the lippy ads. They were created to brand PromaxBDA events in Africa,
New Zealand, Australia, India and Asia by a Singapore-based agency called Bruce
Dunlop & Associates (BDA) Creative.
How did BDA Creative come to be selected for the honour of designing the Promax
branding? The company’s “creative director extraordinaire’ Matthew Giffen explains:
“Promax camped outside our offices and called us throughout the night begging and
pleading for us to do the job. They wined and dined us and lavished us with fine
jewellery and expensive cars, which we obviously turned down as no sweetener was
needed to work with such a lovely bunch! In reality though we had to pitch for the
job… grumble, grumble!’
Of course BDA Creative is no stranger to Promax awards. “But that has nothing to do
with the Promax branding job…. nudge-nudge, wink-wink,’ continues Giffen. “We
have barrels full of the things (Promax awards); we use them as door stops and
toilet roll holders and they make for great nose pickers when you’re feeling lazy.’
This was BDA Creative’s first ever job for Promax. “And, as soon as our designers
leave rehab we may consider doing more,’ quips Giffen.
He explains that Promax gave BDA Creative the art of storytelling theme. “Then we
“came across’ a large bag of magic mushrooms and bish bash bosh! One thing led to
another and we ended up with talking mouths on legs.
“The best way to approach a brief like this is with irreverence and humour. As the
brief was very open it allowed for quite an exploratory interpretation. We consider
ourselves very lucky to work in this industry because we get to make nice images
and tell compelling stories. In fact, we are the epitome of the kids who never grew
up.
“Promax is a great gathering together of like-minded people to share in our collective
knowledge and indulge in the affirmation of our art, craft and passions. And trouser
an award or two, drink too much and embarrass yourself in front of the boss.’
Giffen describes the design of the ads as silly, immature, playful and fun.
“So much branding has disappeared up its own derriere so we thought this was a
great opportunity to inject some much needed fun and irreverence,’ he concludes.
